Title: Fly Me to the Moon Vol. 16
Author: Kenjiro Hata
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 197
Genre: Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy, Science Fiction
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
The Story
The really odd chapter numbering has returned. Apparently, we have chapters 1-4 to start us off where we take a look back at Tsukasa’s life, how she became the way that she had, and how someone made a certain promise to her in order to fulfill her wishes. Once we get through that, we jump right into Chapter 148 where things pick up with Tsukasa and Nasa reuniting at the church and making up. At least their marriage is saved.
Then we teleport back a few chapters and go back to the sweet and sugary cuteness that we are used to which includes Nasa taking Tsukasa out to eat at a restaurant followed by an adventure in karaoke. Then, we jump into the epilogue for the series!? So, I won’t go into much detail here because it will spoil a lot of things but we’re getting the events after the ending (which all center around a 10000 yen bill for… um… reasons.) Then our volume comes to an end.
I have to say that from a story perspective, jumping around like this is really odd. Sure, it’s unconventional storytelling but why would you give away the ending and epilogue before it even happens? With an undetermined number of volumes left in the series, it gives the readers little to look forward to. Does this mean we are back to cute and cuddly episodic chapters? Is there another story arc on the horizon? Is the journey now Nasa learning the truth rather than having the truth set up the ending? Also, what about Tsukasa’s goals? The epilogue seems to suggest that she didn’t achieve them.
Are the more epilogues? This is just really confusing and it makes me wonder why Kenjiro Hata decided to go this route.
Characters
Okay. How do I even write this section without spoiling things? I guess I can try to be vague and just say that we learned a lot about Tsukasa’s past, what her real name used to be, the events that happened to her, and what kind of wish she made. It’s a lot to take in and while this was hinted at for a while and even revealed in the previous volume, with the way the information is being presented, it seems as if Kenjiro Hata is writing two different series with the same characters and is putting both of those series into a second volume. I can’t really tell if this style is going to mix like oil and water right now or form a beautiful emulsion, but what I can say is that this gave the series a much-needed refresh but I have to wonder where Tsukasa’s story goes from here.
As for Nasa, I’m glad he was able to reconcile with Tsukasa and get her to change her mind. Her running away was pretty abrupt but once we learned about her past, it made more sense…. Even though it was still foolish and illogical of her to do it. In the epilogue, it seems as if Nasa accepting the events of what happens but I wonder what his reaction was when he learned everything for the first time? Also, there was a bit of foreshadowing there with that 10000 yen bill. Even if it wasn’t flat-out stated, it doesn’t take a lot of brain power to figure out who or what Nasa could be.
Final Thoughts
People who have known this series to be cute and cuddly are in for a major shock when they see the cover for this volume. While this marks a dramatic shift in the series’ story, it makes me wonder if we are going to return to business as normal or if we are going to continue to get the side-by-side story treatment from here on out. As someone who likes to track their reading and watching progress on anilist, trying to mark my progress down has been… challenging. Imagine reading 10 chapters in this volume but only progressing 1 chapter on the site because the furthest chapter in this book was #148. Tis a bit weird, says I.
Regardless, there are so many questions to be had but I’m still bothered by the fact that we got the ending in the last volume and the epilogue in this volume and the series isn’t even close to being over yet. Again, I question what Kenjiro Hata is thinking but I will say that doing things unconventionally has its risks but, for me, they seem to be paying off. I’m going to sit back and enjoy this new ride we’re on and see where it takes us!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
